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> Fortran 5 was marketed by Data General Corporation from the early 1970s Interesting, I never heard of Fortran 5, I remember Fortran 66, Fortran IV and 77, bu

by jmclnx 2y ago

> Fortran 5 was marketed by Data General Corporation from the early 1970s Interesting, I never heard of Fortran 5, I remember Fortran 66, Fortran IV and 77, but not V. Anyway an interesting read.

rst 2y ago
The piece documents that at least two manufacturers (Data General and Univac) marketed their extended Fortran IV compilers as "Fortran V" -- but it doesn't say whether they actually extended Fortran IV the same way. "Fortran V" wasn't the name of any official standard; the ANSI standard which more or less documented Fortran IV was officially Fortran 66, and ANSI's next version was Fortran 77.
- mek6800d2 2y ago
  Data General's compiler was "Fortran 5", not V. Univac and Control Data Corporation had their own Fortran Vs, but there was no relation between the two.
- wrs 2y ago
  I learned Fortran in 1977 using WATFIV, which I just now realized was not a nonexistent Fortran 5, but the University of WATerloo Fortran IV compiler.
mek6800d2 2y ago
Author here--thanks for the compliment! I too had never heard of Fortran 5, which is why it kept bugging me every time I heard it mentioned in connection with Voyager over the past few years.
- rootbear 2y ago
  Hello! This was a great read, thanks. I'm slightly amazed that we've never met as far as I know. I was at the U of MD at the same time as you (late 70s) and remember the 1108 and 1106 well. Friends in the Computer Vision Lab on the fourth floor introduced me to Unix in 1979 and I never looked back. I worked at Goddard from 1995-1998 in Building 26 for the NSSDC, then again from 1998 to 2022 in building 28 (SVS) and Building 11 (DCL). My father worked there from 1971 to 1987, in Building 11. It was a wonderful place to work.
  - mek6800d2 2y ago
    Wow! Thank you! I had dropped out of school, got interested in computers, and returned part-time in 1978, eventually getting my degree in 1981. Although I used the Univacs, I never actually saw them! In 1980-1981, I worked as an undergraduate programmer for Dr. Kanal (pattern recognition and image processing), whose office was a step across the hallway from Dr. Rosenfeld's office (who founded the Computer Vision Lab). This gave me access to the graduate student computing facilities -- no more punch cards, but the extremely diverse array of terminals at that time made me understand the need for Unix's termcap! I also did work on the new VAX they got and Dr. Kanal's PDP-11/Unix in the computing lab, but, not yet being a hacker, I didn't take as full advantage of them as I should have! Yeah, Goddard was great. I was in Building 28 off and on from 1982-1984 and then in Building 23 from 1994-1996. Good times! Thank you for sharing your memories and your father's.

by jmclnx 2y ago

> Fortran 5 was marketed by Data General Corporation from the early 1970s Interesting, I never heard of Fortran 5, I remember Fortran 66, Fortran IV and 77, but not V. Anyway an interesting read.

rst 2y ago

The piece documents that at least two manufacturers (Data General and Univac) marketed their extended Fortran IV compilers as "Fortran V" -- but it doesn't say whether they actually extended Fortran IV the same way. "Fortran V" wasn't the name of any official standard; the ANSI standard which more or less documented Fortran IV was officially Fortran 66, and ANSI's next version was Fortran 77.

mek6800d2 2y ago
Data General's compiler was "Fortran 5", not V. Univac and Control Data Corporation had their own Fortran Vs, but there was no relation between the two.
wrs 2y ago
I learned Fortran in 1977 using WATFIV, which I just now realized was not a nonexistent Fortran 5, but the University of WATerloo Fortran IV compiler.

mek6800d2 2y ago

Author here--thanks for the compliment! I too had never heard of Fortran 5, which is why it kept bugging me every time I heard it mentioned in connection with Voyager over the past few years.

rootbear 2y ago
Hello! This was a great read, thanks. I'm slightly amazed that we've never met as far as I know. I was at the U of MD at the same time as you (late 70s) and remember the 1108 and 1106 well. Friends in the Computer Vision Lab on the fourth floor introduced me to Unix in 1979 and I never looked back. I worked at Goddard from 1995-1998 in Building 26 for the NSSDC, then again from 1998 to 2022 in building 28 (SVS) and Building 11 (DCL). My father worked there from 1971 to 1987, in Building 11. It was a wonderful place to work.
- mek6800d2 2y ago
  Wow! Thank you! I had dropped out of school, got interested in computers, and returned part-time in 1978, eventually getting my degree in 1981. Although I used the Univacs, I never actually saw them! In 1980-1981, I worked as an undergraduate programmer for Dr. Kanal (pattern recognition and image processing), whose office was a step across the hallway from Dr. Rosenfeld's office (who founded the Computer Vision Lab). This gave me access to the graduate student computing facilities -- no more punch cards, but the extremely diverse array of terminals at that time made me understand the need for Unix's termcap! I also did work on the new VAX they got and Dr. Kanal's PDP-11/Unix in the computing lab, but, not yet being a hacker, I didn't take as full advantage of them as I should have! Yeah, Goddard was great. I was in Building 28 off and on from 1982-1984 and then in Building 23 from 1994-1996. Good times! Thank you for sharing your memories and your father's.